With the advent of digital televisions, set-top boxes (STBs), digital video recorders (DVRs), and media delivery systems such as Internet Protocol television (IPTV) and Video on Demand (VOD), a content consumer has various options to view multimedia content. For example, the consumer can view a program as it is broadcasted or can record the program for later viewing. In addition, some cable and telecom companies incorporate targeted content delivery into broadcast content. For example, the cable and telecom companies, along with their customers, can target different groups of consumers with different targeted content, such as different advertisements.
However, there are shortcomings in current techniques. In particular, cable and telecom companies employ targeted advertisements on a per STB (or similar component) basis, without considering that other users may be viewing the targeted advertisements. Further, the targeted advertisements themselves are sent to the STB (or similar component) directly from the back-end servers, thereby increasing network load. Moreover, when content is recorded and the recorded content is played back many times on a device, the same (or different) users are presented with the same advertisement many times.
Accordingly, there is an opportunity for more efficient and effective targeted advertising.